My Happiness
by Jewel1001
Summary: When you love somebody with your whole heart, it hurts to see them in someone else's arms. Especially when you know that they're being lied to. What would you do? Multiple pairings.
1. Prologue  The Strong One

Hazeru - Okay, so this is ... different ... to what I usually write. :S

Hera - Sorry the prologue's so short. Oh, and there's lots of pairings in this story!

Hazeru - Warning, this might take a while for things to become clear.

Hera - NOT set at Duel Academy or with duelling or anything. Oh, and it's Jaden's POV.

Hazeru - Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX

Prologue

The Strong One

You know, it's almost funny.

Your life can change dramatically in a few moments, in a simple event, and nobody notices. Your heart can burn and crumble and break a hundred times, and somehow you stay alive.

There is no pain worse than heartache - but it's a pain that nobody will ever know about. It can't be caught or spread like a disease. It isn't contagious, and only you can feel it.

But it's a long-lasting, torturous pain that you can't forget about.

/

I am the strong one.

I'm the one who keeps the others going, gives them hope, helps them stand up when they fall down - call it whatever you want. I'm the one that holds us all together.

And I know it.

When I say 'the others', what I really mean is: 'my friends'.

I don't really know when, exactly, it happen. All I know is that, one day, I suddenly realised that my friends all turned to me for help before they turned anywhere else. Some more than others, but at one point or another, every single one of my friends had looked to me for help.

And I always did what I could. I pushed my limits to help my friends, and I didn't ever think that I did the wrong thing in doing so. My friends were my _friends_. I cared about them. Of course I was going to help them when they asked.

/

My school isn't much - just your average high school in your average city - but it's where I met all my friends.

And also where I met _him_.

He was different. Different from everyone else.

He was my friend, but he didn't hang out with us all the time - usually only when Zane was around.

Zane was the older brother of my best ever friend, Syrus Truesdale.

Zane was also the lover of Jesse Andersen.

Who was Jesse? The one I loved.

It pained my heart to see the two of them together, since I had long ago accepted my own feelings for Jesse, but I never once thought about splitting them up. They seemed so happy together - I would just have to be happy for them, and contain my own feelings in whatever way I could.

The only person who knew of my feelings for Jesse was Syrus.

Don't get me wrong, I told my friends everything else about me. Up until I admitted to myself that I was in love with Jesse Andersen, I shared everything with them.

But when I fell in love …

It was just a secret I didn't want to tell.

Syrus forced it out of me, in the end, because he noticed that I really didn't want to go over to his house whenever Jesse was there. Simply because, of course, he was there to be with Zane.

/

Does all this sound confusing?

If it doesn't, maybe it should. Or maybe that's just me.

This is my story, but I don't really understand it.

I don't get how I managed to get from there to where I am today?

At that point, I was just a normal, everyday school student, in the local high school. I walked around with my friends, and I kept my secret feelings for Jesse Andersen hidden from everyone, and Syrus told nobody my secret.

This was the way it was.

But then things started to change …

Hazeru - Weird, right?

Hera - The plot and stuff will get clearer as the fic goes on.

Hazeru - And like I said, there will be lots of pairings! :)

Hera - R&R please. No flames.


	2. Chapter 1  Shock

Hazeru - There are multiple mentioned pairings in this chapter.

Hera - They include: ChazzxSyrus - JimxAlexis - AtticusxZane - ZanexJesse - JadenxJesse

Hazeru - Sorry if that's a lot.

Hera - Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX

Chapter 1

Shock

School was dull. Was there ever a truer statement?

My school day consisted of doing as little as possible - sitting in class and trying to perfect the art of sleeping with my eyes open.

Next to me, my best friend - Syrus Truesdale - rolled his eyes at me and poked me whenever it looked like the teacher might call on me to answer a question.

Then, after that class was over, we'd trudge into the next classroom with the next teacher and take notes on the subject - well, Syrus would take notes, and I'd copy them later.

This was the everyday routine.

It was during maths class one Wednesday afternoon that things started to become difficult for me.

/

It started off as a regular maths class.

I was sitting at my desk, as usual. The classroom tables were set out so that five people sat at each circular desk. I sat with Syrus and three of my other good friends, Alexis Rhodes, Chazz Princeton and Bastian Misawa.

Alexis and I had been friends for years. It had started when she'd first transferred to our school and had a crush on me. We'd been 'going out' for two weeks before we both realised that we were nothing more than good friends. Whatever feelings she'd had for me had lasted all of two minutes. Not to mention that I wasn't really attracted to women - I didn't swing that way. But we became very good friends.

Chazz was the most opinionated person in our group of friends. He always thought that he was right and didn't like to admit otherwise. We were rivals in just about everything - except in academic things like school subjects, seeing as that was no competition: I barely passed any tests.

Bastian was the smartest person in our group, and another good friend. I don't think I'd have passed any of the tests I did if it weren't for him - he spent hours tutoring me. How I didn't drive him to drink I'll never know. I guess he was just very patient, who knows.

But anyway, these were the people I was sitting with.

We were struggling our way through maths problems - Bastian miles ahead of us, and he and Alexis guiding me through the sums individually - when suddenly there was the sound of a phone vibrating.

Syrus' hand flew to his jeans pocket so that the teacher wouldn't hear the vibrating, and then he pulled his mobile phone out and looked at the text message he'd just received under his desk.

He read it. And reread it. And reread it again.

"No way" Syrus whispered. "No _way_!"

"What?" I asked. "Who's it from?"

"Alexis …" Syrus whispered, his eyes wide with shock.

"What is it, Syrus?" Alexis asked, frowning in confusion.

Syrus looked up, his face turning suddenly serious - well, half serious, half shocked.

He tossed his phone at Alexis.

"It's from your brother."

Ah, Alexis' brother. Atticus Rhodes. He was a right laugh. Atticus was your classic party animal. And he was into music. He played the ukulele and everything, and played it at every chance he got, including under the desk in class sometimes - much to the annoyance of anyone within a twenty metre radius.

What could he have texted Syrus that was so bad?

Sure, he sent the occasional sex joke or something that had us all laughing or sitting shaking our heads, but never anything bad. So what …

"What the hell?" Alexis muttered, scanning the text once again.

"Will someone just tell me what it says?" I asked, exasperated.

Alexis looked up at me, frowning, and then glanced down at the phone in order to read it out loud.

"Syrus, your brother is amazing in bed. Good luck with Chazz, maybe it runs in the family" Alexis read.

"Sy?" I gasped.

Regardless of the teacher being in the room - who was, thankfully, across the room with her back turned - Chazz moved over to Syrus and put his arm around my best friend's shoulders.

Yeah, I should probably tell you: Chazz and Syrus were together.

It didn't bother anyone, even though it was an unexpected match. Syrus seemed to care so much for Chazz, and although Chazz wasn't as reciprocal in public, I knew that it was different when the two of them were alone.

Syrus turned his face into Chazz's chest, and Chazz tightened his grip on his shoulders. Alexis stared at the text with a frown on her face. Bastian looked disgusted.

I didn't even want to know the look on my own face.

Atticus had been to bed with Zane Truesdale!

Two things bothered me.

One: Atticus with Zane? Syrus' brother with Alexis' brother? There was something disturbing about that.

Two: Zane Truesdale was dating Jesse Andersen. And I had painfully witnessed the two of them sharing a passionate kiss that very morning. They hadn't broken up …

So why had Zane taken Atticus to bed?

/

Syrus was embarrassed because of his brother, and it was a new experience for him.

Zane was the classic role model older brother. I had never before seen Syrus ashamed of Zane's actions. He looked _up _to Zane.

Or at least, he had.

We spent the rest of the class muttering amongst ourselves about the unnerving text.

Perhaps it was a prank? That would be more like Atticus …

Atticus had never seemed like the type to steal someone else's boyfriend. Had he initiated it, or had Zane?

Or had nothing happened?

We were all confused - and on my part, I was angry.

If Zane had gone to bed with Atticus, then he had cheated on Jesse. And since Jesse had kissed Zane this morning, then Jesse didn't know.

He was being lied to. And cheated.

And I _loved _him!

If I was with Jesse, I'd never even think about cheating on him. He had my whole heart, so to see him being lied to by Zane …

Well, it hurt, put it that way.

/

We waited two more painful hours before we got out of our designated classes. Of course, we ran straight to Atticus Rhodes.

Atticus grinned his typical grin but it faded the second he was pinned to the ground by his angry, worried sister.

"Woah! Settle down, Lex …" Atticus started.

"Don't try me" Alexis interrupted, shaking him by the front of his shirt. "Why did you sent Syrus that text? Huh? Did you think it was funny?"

"It was a compliment" Atticus groaned. "I just said that being good in bed might run in the family and then he'd be good, too It was meant in the nice way!"

"Nice way?" Chazz growled, having to be held back by Syrus.

"Atticus, you better not be lying" I said, my voice dangerously low as I glared at him. "Did you really sleep with Zane?"

"He's my best bud, I sleep at his all the time" Atticus shrugged.

His head was knocked off the ground, purposely, by Alexis. He rubbed it unhappily, muttering about people messing up his hair.

For some reason, that annoyed me even more.

"What you mean," Atticus continued, "is did I have sex with Zane?"

We all nodded. That was what we wanted to know.

"Well, to answer your question: yes, I did."

My heart sank. Confirmation?

"You slept with my brother?" Syrus whispered.

"Just once" Atticus winked. "For now, anyway. It was amazing." He noticed the looks on our faces and frowned. "Hey, don't tell me you guys are all innocent little virgins."

I swear, we resembled five tomatoes.

Bastian face palmed while Chazz and Syrus avoided each other's gaze. That spiked my attention.

I didn't think they had actually slept together, but maybe I'd been wrong …

Alexis was bright red as she stood up and released her brother.

Well, she'd told me - by accident, if I'm honest, she was on a sugar high at the time - that she had lost her virginity to her boyfriend, whom she was still dating. His name was Jim Cook.

Bastian had never had a girlfriend or a boyfriend, so he was a virgin.

And I was, though I didn't really want to admit it.

But, really … Alexis was the only one here who I knew for sure that had had sex with someone. Bastian hadn't, I hadn't. Chazz and Syrus? I didn't think so, but maybe my best friend was a whole lot less innocent than I'd thought he was ….

That didn't even matter!

There was something more pressing at hand here!

"When did you sleep with him?" I asked.

"Last night" Atticus answered, not skipping a beat.

Last night, Zane had slept with Atticus. This morning, he'd kissed Jesse.

What the hell was going on?

Zane had _never _been like this. He'd never been that type of guy.

Zane didn't exactly show his emotions to everyone. He just wasn't that sort of sentimental person. He kept his feelings a bit more hidden, more private, but he did have them, strongly.

And he had always seemed to me to be the sort that would have one lover and that would be it. He'd be with that person alone.

He certainly didn't seem the type to be with two different people at once. Especially when one was his actual boyfriend, and the other the brother of one of his good friends.

Yes, Alexis and Zane had been great friends for years. They were both the school's top students - Zane the top male student, Alexis the top female student - and they got along really well. Zane only met Atticus through knowing Alexis, regardless of them being in the same class. He befriended Alexis, and after that, befriended Atticus as well.

And that was years ago.

Why had he now suddenly decided to sleep with Atticus Rhodes? He had Jesse Andersen!

There were so many emotions running through me that I didn't know what to do.

In the end, I walked away.

Because most of all, I was confused.

/

I had avoided my friends for the last hours of school, which I felt pretty guilty about. They hadn't done anything, and none of them were going to understand. Well, except Syrus. He knew that I loved Jesse, and that this had caught me off guard.

Because Zane going out with Jesse was one thing.

Him cheating on Jesse was another.

Whether I loved him or not, Jesse was my friend. And nobody messed with my friends!

And yet, Zane was my friend, too.

I didn't know what to be confused about first. Damn it!

I went over all the possibilities in my head.

Zane and Atticus had been drunk, and hadn't meant it.

Zane had broken up with Jesse and they'd made up this morning.

Atticus was making the whole thing up and was going to be killed by Zane for it later.

None of those options seemed to fit …

/

I was home already, and it took me longer to walk home than it took Syrus to get to his house. I had to talk to him, see if he'd heard anything new. Maybe he'd heard Zane and Atticus laughing about how it was all a joke and we'd been fools to buy it.

Nah, that didn't sound like Zane at all.

But sleeping with someone didn't, either!

I was losing my mind. I had to clear my head of these thoughts.

So I took the coward's way out and phoned Syrus.

"Is Zane home?"

"Yeah, and he's brought Jesse, too" Syrus growled, and I heard him moving into another room, and his voice lowered, like he was letting only me hear. "Jaden, they're in the living room, all over each other. I've not asked Zane, but he seems a bit different … Jay, I think he _did _sleep with Atticus."

"And he's with Jesse _now_?" I growled.

"Yeah, and not acting guilty" Syrus whispered - I could barely hear him, but the words were still just about audible. "Alexis pretty much clobbered Atticus after you left, by the way. And he said that it might have just been a one-time thing."

"_Might _have? So they _might _do it again?" I gasped.

"I don't know."

There was a brief pause, followed by a sigh.

"Hey, Jaden?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you okay?"

"Don't worry about me" I said instantly.

After all, I couldn't worry Syrus with my troubles.

Zane, however.

Next time I saw him, he was gonna get it.

…

No, he wasn't. No matter what he did, I knew that I just didn't have it in me to hurt one of my friends.

But that didn't mean I wasn't going to confront him …

Hazeru - Yeah, very jumpy, sorry about that.

Hera - Zane slept with Atticus! He's cheating on Jesse!

Hazeru - Or is there more to it ...?

Hera - No flames. Please review.


	3. Chapter 2  Smiles And Anger

Hazeru - Another chapter, sorry it's a bit shorter than the last one.

Hera - Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX

Chapter 2

Smiles And Anger

The next day was a school day as well - it being Thursday - and the first class I had was physics. Physics was a subject I had never been blessed with the talent for, and I always failed the exams. Well, unless Bastian tutored me in a class he didn't even take himself. Bastian had no need to do high school physics - he'd mastered it already by himself. The subject, to me, was confusing, and so I spent most of the class doodling, flicking through texts on my phone under the desk, and chatting with my secret love.

Physics was the only class that Jesse and I got to sit together in. He was better at it than I was, so he could help me with the work, but mostly we just talked. We were great friends, after all. He was blissfully unaware that I loved him with my whole heart.

And as I spoke to him that Thursday, I realised that he was also blissfully unaware of what Zane had done.

/

Jesse was flicking through his phone under the desk while the teacher had his back turned. My own phone was out of charge, otherwise I might well have been doing the same thing. As it was, I was bored and with nothing to do, so I found myself inconspicuously peeking over at Jesse's phone to see whom he was texting. I hoped it wasn't Zane - anyone but him or Atticus.

But this is me. And that was my luck.

He was texting Zane.

There was nothing said in the message that was revealing or could be considered really private, but at the end of the one line message was a string of kisses. Those six little 'x' letters, they bored into my irises like tiny daggers.

Jesse tucked his phone down beside his thigh and went back to pretending to pay attention, while I clenched my fist in rage.

I wanted to tell him. I really wanted to rat Zane out and just tell Jesse what was going on.

But, despite myself, I didn't want to snitch on my friend. I wanted to speak to Zane first, to see if it was really true. I believed wholeheartedly that it was, but I wanted to hear it from Zane before I acted.

So I gritted my teeth and said nothing. There was no way I was making a fool of myself, worrying Jesse and causing a scene, before I had even spoken to Zane to get confirmation.

I didn't know how long that was going to take.

Zane wasn't in our year, he was older, and so I never had any classes with him. I couldn't corner him at lunch or break, either, because he always hung around with Jesse. I needed to get him alone - or preferably, get him and Atticus. Then I could see what was really going on.

I was being nosy, I admitted it. But I wanted to know.

Jesse should have been mine. I loved him more than anything - more than my beloved fried shrimp! - and yet he wasn't mine. Now, I could live with that, and mourn my fate in my own time, but I could never sit back and watch him be lied to by the person he cared for. No way.

It took only a few minutes - during which my mind had been arguing with my heart - for Jesse to get a text back. He clicked the shiny button to reveal the three line reply, which was, naturally, in Zane's perfect grammar.

And at the end, that heartbreaking trail of kisses.

/

My knuckles turned white but before I could act - or even think clearly - something hit me on the back of the head. I turned around to see a scrunched up piece of paper lying on the ground, and looked back to see who had thrown it at me. If this was Chazz, I was going to knock him out later!

But it was only Syrus. Syrus with his eyes wide, shaking his head and sending me warning signals through his body language.

Good old Sy. He had noticed what was happened and deduced - mostly likely from seeing Jesse texting - what was going on. How his grades were as poor as they were I would never know - the guy was perceptive. People should have given him more credit.

I nodded slightly to my friend - I'd thank him properly later for saving my ass - and turned around, trying to make it look like I was paying attention to the meaningless diagrams on the whiteboard. Well, people like Bastian, and probably Syrus and Jesse, understood their meaning - for me, it never quite seemed to click.

Anyway, I turned around and pretended to be focused, but I knew I was scowling.

Jesse noticed, and he reached out to touch my hand.

"Hey, you okay, buddy?" he whispered.

His hand on mine felt warm. I looked up to his stunning eyes - a shade of green that I had never seen on anyone else, and haven't since - and felt my cheeks turn red. If I curled my fingers around his now, I would be officially holding his hand.

But of course I didn't. Instead I just smiled and gave him the thumbs up to signal that I was alright.

Jesse nodded and flashed me a smile - a friendly one, not the type he reserved for Zane Truesdale - before removing his hand from mine and using it to press a button on his phone, in order to text someone else or to reply to Zane.

My cheeks quickly returned to their normal complexion. But inside, I was seething.

Damn you, Zane Truesdale! And damn my stupid, selfish heart.

I was so disgusted with myself that I couldn't ever put it into words.

Until Jesse had touched my hand, I hadn't even noticed! But now that he had, my world was so much clearer - and so were my feelings toward him and Zane.

I was disgusted to realise that there was a part of me that _wanted _Zane to be cheating on Jesse. A part of me that _wanted _Jesse to feel emotional pain, so that he might just find comfort in my arms. There was a part of me that wanted Jesse Andersen, by any means necessary.

This was the first moment that I truly hated myself.

But it was not the last.

Hazeru - Jaden's going to hate himself? Why?

Hera - Sadly, it'll be a while before we update, so it'll be a while until you find out.

Hazeru - If you want this story updated first when I get back, you can vote for it on the poll.

Hera - Until then, R&R please.


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